Well, that's Christmas over with I think, just New Years Eve and the inevitable 31 days of depression and gloom that is January.

Stash from this Christmas included such things as a USB cup warmer (which could actually be handy as I'm king of the half drunk cup of coffe), the world's most infuriating puzzle (19,186 solutions my big fat arse), and a chopping board which came with this sticker on it...


So let me get this right, a chopping board where I have to avoid contact with sharp implements - like knives for example, hmmm.

Anyway, some updates to the rest of the site. Here are some pictures from my companies Christmas party, and as an added bonus some ones from my last night out before Christmas.

And finally my last CD of the year from Mr Jason Forrest. Looks like I managed to buy a few less CDs this year, got up to 86 - although of course this doesn't count the ones the accidently leaped from various dodgy torrent sites onto my laptop.

last CD of the year... honest

Jason Forrest - Shamelessly Exciting
Jason Forrest used to call himself Donna Summer, obviously that wasn't going to last long, if you see pictures of him on stage unlike most laptop musicians you'll see pictures of someone having fun. Which sums up the feeling of this CD very well, it's fun! It's also really well put together, he works pretty much solely in the medium of 'the mash-up' but on a very microscopic scale, for example one of the tracks on this CD is called My favourite 36 punk songs - guess what that song is made up of. Anyway, here is a track called War Photographer, it's loud, uses loads of hair metal samples by the sound of it, and I rather like it.

MP3: War Photographer

Well that's me done with work until 2006, thank Cthulhu and all his ungodly chums, had more than enough of it for the year.

That's my Secret Santa present, a stressed stress ball...

Anyway, Christmas, I feel the urge for a tune. Well, I've just noticed the search box in Media Player, and what do you know I have a bunch of christmas related tunes. So here's a cheerful little number from the late great Mark Sandman and his band Morphine:

MP3: sexy christmas baby mine

Heh...

The staple thing to do when you have a blog and you're stuck with things to do is to fill out posts with results from personality quizes. So here's one from a place called drawahouse.com.


Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. You are very tidy person. There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. Your life is always full of changes.

You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You see the world as it is, not as you believe it should be.

You are not a romantic person by nature. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.

You don't think much about yourself?! Blimey, way to make me feel better about myself, some of the other answers are a bit odd, but that's what you get from being psycho-analyzed by drawing childish pictures I guess.

Anyway, some updates. I've finally updated my music collection page, so there is now a bunch of mp3s for you to listen to, the one by Jackie-O Motherfucker is particularly good.

And if you want some drunken pictures, sorry can't help much. The best I've got is this.

tail end of the year...

DFA Holiday Mix 2005
Ace quick and dirty mix from one of this years most celebrated record labels, even though they only seem to have about 3 bands on the label: LCD SoundSystem, someone called Juan Maclean, and for some reason which I just can't work out why, avant-garde noise-meisters Black Dice. Very good mix, makes you want to dance (always a good sign in a mix), and it only costs about 3 quid! This track is from the slightly harder end of the mix

MP3: tribulations (tiga remix)

Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Lightning Bolt are a very odd metal band, they don't bother with guitars - no need, just throw as many distortion pedals as you can at the bass. They dress as superheroes, and have been known to perform gigs in the audience of other bands, and in back alleys. There singer seems to be singing through a microphone that costs less than a tenner, and they are prone to improvistation. It really shouldn't work, but it really does, honest!

MP3: Birdy

65daysofstatic - One Time For All Time
I've heard this band described as Mogwai mixed by Squarepusher, not sure about that. To be honest I think they've got more in common with someone like Linkin Park, but without the vocals, and maybe a bit louder. No, scrub that, alot louder. I should be loving this album, but I'm not sure, it hints at greatness at times and I've heard that they are pretty amazing live. I await further releases with interest.

MP3: Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here


Jackie-O Motherfucker - Flags of the Sacred Harp
Worse band name ever! Think I've mentioned this before... Anyway, on this CD they tackle some traditional American folk songs, to a pretty successful end. Gently ambient droning meets some good old mournful country music. Very nice

MP3: Hey Mr Sky

Nettle - Build a Fort, Set That on Fire
Nettle is DJ /ruptures band, there pretty similar to what he normally does but maybe less hip-hoppy. For want of a better word it's world music mixed with noise - not exactly easy listening, but definitely worth your time.

MP3: Serranito

Nettle - Firecamp Stories Remixes
Remix album of the above Nettle album, where there already fractured songs are broken around and fucked up even more. I thoroughly endorse this sort of behaviour.

MP3: The Ballard of Jimmy Hollin is More Awkward Than That

I haven't posted in a while, been busy not selling my new XBox360 on eBay (Condemned has been, well condemned... and I'm in the top 300 on Zuma), watching the new Harry Potter film (which is very good actually) and cooking more experimental meals (note to world in general: when cooking beetroot be prepared for the after effects, it can cause quite a shock the next day if you're not prepared, and if you use mature guryere get some strong air freshener).

Then there was the small matter of the quest to return the Ring of Sauron to Mordor.


Normal service will resume shortly, might even start taking some pictures soon.

So, I've got the week off to play on my new XBox 360. Kind of embarrassing to admit that really, but if I was at work I'm sure I'd just be pining for my new toy. Sad isn't it?

Today I've been mainly playing Condemned: Criminal Origins.


It's probably the most next generation looking game of the three I've bought for the new XBox, it's a strange first person shooter in which you hardly get to shoot anything. Unlike most first person shooters guns and ammo are really hard to find, most of the combat is done with melee weapons like pipes and rusty old signs which you rip off the walls as you progress through some seriously eerie and menacing levels. It's an exceptionally creepy game, you tend to only see enemies either as shadows flitting across the corner of the screens or as they jump out at you brandishing a bit of wood with a few nails stuck in them. Very creepy and suitably scary at times, plus the story isn't too bad, I'm rather enjoying it.

It gets a bit much at times however, which is when the new XBox Arcade comes in very handy. This is a new feature which lets you download mini-games for the XBox, I'm mildly addicted to Geometry Wars Evolved at the moment (highly recommend that anyone with a new XBox tries this out). I'm kind of in awe of the people at the top of the leaderboard, my top score is about 230,000 which puts me 2976th in the world, the top score is 1,955,255 - doesn't half make you feel inadequate!

Went to see The Progidy last night, rather good. One of the loudest shows I've ever heard, almost glad that we were in the balcony, there was a constant cloud of steam from people sweating in the pit. They thankfully went for a greatest hits show, ignoring most of the new album, just like being back in 1991 - although maybe with a bit more metal. Usual blurry, crappy pictures here.

Now there's something else... Oh yes, Happy 'Being Microsoft's Bitch' Day!


As you can see the new XBox360 has settled in nicely, the old one has been discarded like the proverbial unwanted puppy at Christmas. I've got three games with it, Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero and Condemned: Criminal Origins. Project Gotham is pure videogame racing porn, I'm not sure about Perfect Dark - need to play it a bit more, and I haven't played Condemned - but from what I gather it's about beating psychotic tramps up with big sticks. Sounds like fun!

Christmas has arrived in our office.

Oh, and indeed, dear...